Change we can believe in

The Sunlight Foundation recently launched a national campaign to make government more open, transparent, and ultimately: accountable. The campaign has adopted a new logo that can be used by any organization working toward government transparency.

On launching the campaign Sunlight's Engagement Director Jason Brewer explained the new logo and the rational behind the Open Government 'movement':

We hope this emblem is a first step in giving us something we can all own and point to as a symbol for what open government means to us, and what we believe.

[...] We believe that what government does, how it is influenced, or how it spends our money are all things that are public information – and today, “public” means that the government’s data must be accessible by any citizen, at any time, from anywhere: online and in real-time.

Through the campaign we hope to dramatically further the movement for open government that has been building, and give it the infrastructure it needs to be successful at the local, state and federal levels for years to come.

Open Government beliefs

The primary objectives of the campaign - and beliefs at the heart of the Open Government movement - include:

1) An open, transparent Government is something we create when public government data and information about government activity is made easily accessible to us – online and in real-time – and we use it effectively.

2) Government has a responsibility to be open and transparent, but it will not become so on its own.

3) We would rather use positive incentives (the “carrot”) than negative incentives (the “stick”) to make government transparent, but we will use whichever is most effective.

4) Changing the way government thinks and behaves is as important as changing government rules.

5) Technology isn’t part of the open government “pie.” It’s the pan.

6) Changing the way the public thinks about government and how they engage with it, is as important as making government data and information accessible.

7) Effective and responsible engagement with government will make it work better for all Americans.

8) Achieving our vision of a transparent government will require the ongoing commitment of citizens in every district across the United States to make it possible.

9) We will sacrifice “perfect” in order to take action and make progress today.

Open Government Logo

In the video below, Noah Kunin from the Sunlight Foundation walks through the reasoning behind the logo, and explains the campaign to ensure more government is transparent and accountable.

For more on the Campaign for Transparency, and to provide feedback, check out

• Google Group: Citizens for OpenGov
• Wiki: Public=Online
• Sunlight Foundation
  

(H/T) GovFresh

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In October 2009, the National Archives hosted the fifth annual McGowan Forum on Communication, Technology and Government. A panel of distinguished experts discussed the transfomative effect of Web 2.0 on the relationship between citizen and government.

They sought to answer the question: "Can Government 2.0 technologies build a new kind of participatory democracy?"

Moderated by Darrell M. West, vice president and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution, the discussion focused on how collaborative democracy can be designed.

Panelists included Beth Simone Noveck, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Mark H. Webbink, visiting professor of law, New York Law School, and executive director, Center for Patent Innovations; Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder, Public Knowledge; and Jason R. Baron, director of litigation, National Archives.

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InformationWeek's Executive editor Fritz Nelson interviews San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, Chief Technology Officer Blair Adams and Director of Innovation Jay Nath, about DataSF.org and building applications from newly open datasets.

Mayor Gavin Newsom speaking about San Francisco's Open data initiative:

I think we're about to go through the most transformational period in how government operates...I cannot understate the significance of open data

For details on some of the applications already developed, check out DataSF's Application showcase.

Mayor Newsom announcing the launch of DataSF.org

Mayor Newsom discussing the launch of San Francisco's Open Data Executive Directive at a meeting with City departments and Tim O'Reilly.

(via GovFresh)

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Happy Public Domain Day 2010!

There is a wealth of activities enabled by a robust public domain. It's important to celebrate it's presence and understand how and why it needs our support e.g. through organisations such as Creative Commons and others. 

One example of why the Public domain matters is in relation to Open Government. The Centre for the Study of the Public Domain outlines why all works of the federal government are available as part of the public domain:

Under the Copyright Act of 1976, all works of the federal government are part of the public domain. This includes legislation, regulations, legal opinions, hearings, and all sorts of other information about how our government operates and what it produces. Efforts are currently underway to make all of this information searchable and accessible online. For example, the organization public.resource.org is designing a repository for all primary legal materials of the United States. Among other things, this includes court decisions previously accessible only through the “rich man’s Google” of “high-priced commercial services such as Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis.”

One of the goals of the online repository for legal materials is to supplant the government’s PACERwebsite, which charges for access to federal court filings. Carl Malamud, the president and founder of Public.Resource.Org, thinks the government can do much more to make public information public. Scroll to the end of his address, “We the People,” to find a list of “20 Things Government Could Do Today.”

For more on government "By the People" check Carl Malamud's session at the recent Gov 2.0 summit. 

For more info, check http://publicdomainday.org and Creative Commons 

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The White House is soliciting feedback on improving Data.Gov and the creation of an Open Government Directive (OGD) Dashboard. They're look for ideas from the public in relation to these substantive initiatives of the the White House Open Government agenda. 

1.       Open Government Dashboard: The Open Government Directive calls for the creation of an Open Government Dashboard to measure progress and impact. Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Beth Noveck is looking for your input, including as to the metrics by which we measure success. 

The Dashboard will combine quantitative and qualitative measures of progress and we are looking to you for your input about what metrics the Dashboard should measure.

The Sunlight Foundation has a dashboard up and running to monitor progress. Ideas could also be taking from existing government dashboards, including the IT Dashboard and Recovery.gov. For more on existing government dashboards, check TechPresident's recent analysis.

To participate leave comments on the OSTP blog. 

2.       Future of Data.gov: The Open Government Directive instructs all federal agencies to make available high-value data that promote national priorities and improve the lives of everyday Americans through Data.gov. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra is asking for your help in shaping the next version of this key open government platform. He wants to evolve and expand on the principles upon which Data.gov is based. These include:

• Focus on Access
• Open Platform
• Disaggregation of data
• Grow and Improve Through User Feedback
• Program Responsibility
• Rapid Intregration
• Embrace, Scale and Drive Best Practices

Through initiatives like Data.gov, we are laying a new foundation that changes the default setting of government from closed, opaque and secretive to open, transparent and participatory.

As part of the Data.gov Dialogue, you can download the draft plans, submit a new idea, or comment on someone else’s. The online Dialogue has already received dozens of suggestions and hundreds of votes.

(Via Sunlight Foundation)

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So excited about this...

Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra and Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra take questions on the new Open Government Directive and the move to a more transparent government.

Federal News Radio interview with Beth Noveck and Norm Eisen:

For more see:

• Techpresident, CNET and Sunlight Foundation
• Reactions to the Open Government Directive
• Open Government Directive arrives

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Prime Minister Gordon Brown's speech today on Smarter government 'outlined plans for improving frontline services, increasing Government efficiency, and using technology to help hospitals, schools and police forces get better value for money'. Along with this he outlined plans for the release of more government data to allow 'every citizen from next year will have access to information on the performance of public services including hospitals and schools'. 

Information is the key. An informed citizen is a powerful citizen.

And I can announce today that we will actively publish all public services performance data online during 2010 completing the process by 2011. Crime data, hospital costs and parts of the national pupil database will go on line in 2010. We will use this data to benchmark the best and the worst and drive better value for money.

Releasing data can and must unleash the innovation and entrepreneurship at which Britain excels – one of the most powerful forces of change we can harness.

All of this will be available for free commercial re-use, enabling people for the first time to take the material and easily turn it into applications, like fix my street or the postcode paper.

And I can further announce today that, again from next April, we will also release public transport data hitherto inaccessible or expensive and release significant underlying data for weather forecasts for free download and re-use.

For more on the release of government Data see

• UK Government announces lots of new data

The Smarter Government action plan outlines how the Government 'will improve public service outcomes while achieving the fiscal consolidation that is vital to helping the economy grow.'

 The plan has three central actions: to drive up standards by strengthening the role of citizens and civic society; to free up public services by recasting the relationship between the centre and the frontline; and to streamline the centre of government, saving money through sharper delivery.

For more details on the initiative and plans for opening up data see:

• Putting the frontline first website
• Smarter Government plans
• Local Government data
• Opening up Ordnance survey data (video and press release)

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John Gotze, editor of the book, explained the importance of Gov 2.0 in an interview with Federal News Radio:

For more on the State of the e-Union check out:

• State of the e-Union
• 21Gov.net
• @gotze and @bering

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